A woman in Karachi died of contracting the dengue virus on Saturday, increasing the death toll to five this year. Out of 387 suspected cases of dengue in the city, 339 patients have so far tested positive for the virus.
According to a Sindh Dengue Surveillance Cell official, a 34-year-old housewife residing in the Dastagir area of Quaidabad was admitted to the OMI Hospital as she was suffering from high fever. She tested positive for the dengue virus and breathed her last on Saturday. Karachi District Coordination Officer (DCO) Muhammad Hussain Syed said there is no possibility of a Lahore-like dengue outbreak in the metropolitan as the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) is taking measures to protect the citizens from dengue.
Syed said, “We have 57 vehicles that are fumigating four towns of the metropolis every day. Moreover, we restart fumigation every five days after spraying the entire city.” He said, “We have also started putting kerosene oil in the ditches and the locations where water is standing. Besides, when we were informed of a dengue-positive patient, the CDGK staff went to the patient’s house and fumigated the entire residence.”
The DCO said the CDGK has established a dengue ward at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital to treat dengue-positive patients. He said, “The city government is taking a lot of measures, but we also request the public to cooperate with us so the population of the dengue-carrying mosquito could be reduced in the metropolitan.”
He asked the public to cover all utensils filled with fresh water, including those for birds and other animals.
He also asked the citizens to remove standing water from their roofs, washrooms and toilets as well as from the lawns and parks so the dengue-carrying mosquito could not breed in it. Above all, he added, there is no need to worry about a Lahore-like dengue outbreak in Karachi as the CDGK is aware of the threat and taking all preventive measures.
